


Five memories Daniel got back that Jack absolutely didn't want to know about.

by GateGremlyn



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-23
Updated: 2012-06-23
Packaged: 2017-11-08 04:52:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/439344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GateGremlyn/pseuds/GateGremlyn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Five Things tag to Fallen and Homecoming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five memories Daniel got back that Jack absolutely didn't want to know about.

_A Pentangular Gate Prompt_

~::~

“I didn't want to know that.”

“But I mean it's in an odd spot, don't you think? I remember the appendix scar but I didn't know--”

“Aht!” Jack held up a finger. “Don't say it.”

“You asked me to tell you what I remembered,” Daniel said sullenly. “Why did you ask me to tell you if you didn't want to know?”

“Important things, Daniel; I wanted you to tell me important things--not that you have a birthmark on your ass.”

Daniel ducked his head. “It's important to me.”

~::~

“...and I remember throwing up on her shoes.”

“Daniel, I'm eating.” Jack waved his spoon at the man across the table.

“So far most of my memories of my childhood haven't been that good,” he said, ignoring Jack and directing his comments at his other teammates, “but I couldn't have been more than four or five when this happened.”

Jack tried for something louder and tapped the spoon on his dish. “Eating. Table. Food,” he insisted. “And why would throwing up on someone's shoes be a good memory?”

“Because I'd eaten too many sweets—against my mother's orders, as I recall—and it was worth it. My nanny, Lisbet, scolded me and washed me off.” Daniel smiled. “My mother scolded me and put me to bed.”

“Lisbet?” Sam asked.

“Her real name was Elizabeth, after the Queen of England, she told me. But I couldn't pronounce it so it became Lisbet. She was the one who'd given me the sweets in the first place—although I'm sure I took more than I should. I think I was going away with my parents for a few days, and she wanted to give me a treat before I left.”

“And the sweets, which were to say goodbye, made you ill?” Teal'c asked.

“Eating, Teal'c!” Jack pointed the spoon again.

“I'm done, sir,” Sam said with a smile.

“As am I, O'Neill. Please continue, DanielJackson. I would be most pleased to hear of your childhood.”

Jack sighed and stood. “I'm taking my jello to my office. See you kids later. Daniel, when you remember where you put my palm sander, let me know.”

~::~

Daniel turned the pen over and over in his hands.

“I'm sorry, Daniel.”

He turned it again and placed it softly on the table. “Don't be, Jack. It's not like you have any control over this. I remember when I remember.” He pushed the pen away from him. “It's funny, though, that something so small would spark such a powerful memory. I didn't know until I held it in my hand that Sha're thought pens were magic. She used to watch me write....”

“I thought you remembered her death; I didn't know you hadn't. We... I should have told you.”

“I did remember it. I remembered the body; I remember Teal'c--” He swallowed and rubbed a hand across his forehead.“I just hadn't remembered her alive until I picked up the pen, and I saw her looking at me. Now I remember her smile, her warmth, her hands, her sense of wonder--” His own hands shook and he couldn't go on.

~::~

“Am I right, Jack? Did you really have to wear the loin cloth?”

Jack sighed. “Would it do me any good to deny it?”

“No. No, I don't think so. The loin cloth was about--” he sketched out the size in front of Jack's body “--about that big.”

Jack slapped the hands. “Stop that, and watch where you're waving those things.”

“The cloth in the back left your assets hanging out, too, right?” Daniel pulled hands away and dropped back a few steps for a better look. “Yeah, I remember that pretty clearly. Wasn't I the one who bought you?”

Jack sighed more deeply. “Yes, Daniel, you bought me.”

“Did you ever compensate me for that?” Daniel asked.

“You spent big bucks of the government's money to buy a slave at auction,” Jack said. “You don't need to be compensated again.”

“At great personal risk, right?”

“Your point?”

“Nothing,” Daniel said thoughtfully. “I just don't remember you paying me back.”

“Daniel, you got to see my semi-naked ass. That's compensation enough.”

Daniel laughed. “Well, it's compensation; whether or not it's enough, I don't know.”

~::~

“Ouch,” Daniel said with a crooked smile.

Jack sat on the edge of the couch, a beer in front of him. “It wasn't always pretty, I'll grant you,” he said, and toasted the man beside him.

“That's becoming increasingly clear with each new memory.”

Jack choked on his beer and coughed.

“No, I don't mean that, Jack. I'm not criticizing, really.”

“You should be.” Jack put the beer down with a sudden thump. “You should be criticizing. I've treated you like crap over the years, and the last... after Kelowna. That wasn't a goodby to give someone I cared about.”

Daniel held his own beer, not drinking it but turning it in his hands. He stopped to study the label before turning it again. Finally, he put it on the table beside Jack's and rested his arms on his knees. “I liked hearing that you admired me,” he said, staring at the two beer bottles. “I knew the rest of it.”

“Did you?” Jack said harshly. “Did you really know the rest? Shit, Daniel, I was barely a friend to you those last few months. I didn't.... I never told you....” he stuttered and fell silent.

Daniel picked up his bottle again, leaned back, closed his eyes, and let his head rest on the chair. Jack sat quietly, not touching the bottle in front of him, not moving except to fist his hands on his knees.

“You know,” Daniel said into the stillness, startling Jack, “I remember enough.” He didn't move or open his eyes. Only the beer bottle resting on his chest jiggled as he spoke.

Jack picked up the bottle in front of him and drank deeply, finishing it in a few swallows. He put the empty down with another thump. “So you said before,” he snapped.

“I meant it.”

“Meant what? That you'll settle for whatever crap I give you? That you'll deal with whatever shit the military dishes out? That you'll follow my lead until I screw up again? That's not enough, Daniel, not for you—not for anybody.” He held his head in his hands. “Especially not for you.”

“Jack,” Daniel said quietly, “it's enough. Whatever this crazy thing is between us, it's enough. I came back—or got sent back--for a reason. I'm not entirely sure _what_ reason yet,” he laughed a little at that, “but I know there's a reason. I think you're part of it.” He hadn't opened his eyes or moved from his spot on the chair.

Hearing the acceptance in the voice he'd missed for so long, Jack finally relaxed enough to mimic Daniel's position. He leaned back on the couch, folding his arms across his chest. He closed his eyes and listened to a living breathing Daniel beside him.

“Daniel?”

“Yeah?”

“Your memories, you've got some good ones along with the bad ones.” He tried not to make it a question but Daniel answered it anyway.

“Yeah, good ones too.”

Jack cleared his throat. “Of me?”

“Yes, Jack. I even have some memories that don't have anything to do with your ass... or mine.”

He relaxed a little more.“Can I see your scar?”

“No.”

“Can I see your birthmark?”

“No.”

“Can I see your loincloth?”

“That was you, and the answer's still no.”

“You're not going to throw up on me, are you, on my shoes?” Jack crossed his feet on the coffee table.

“Not unless you give me more beer,” Daniel assured him, “and you're not wearing any shoes.”

They settled again, their silence easy and comfortable this time, until their breathing became synchronous.

“Daniel?”

“Hmm?” came the sleepy reply.

“It's nice to have you back.”

~::~

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to the web March 2010, and an accidental companion piece to "Inopportune Times," which is also about Daniel's homecoming.


End file.
